Whole Family with ThyCa and other Cancers

Hello All.

I am wondering what others have had happen within their families.

I am 41, female and the youngest of 9 kids. I was diagnosed with two tumors in Feb 09 and had a TT in July. I am now waiting for RAI treatment. It was pap cancer in both tumors but it had not spread further.

I have many family members with nodules. I have had two sisters and a nephew with Pap ThyCa all having TT and RAI. No reoccurances of ThyCa for any of them so far & it's been 10 years for one sister. This sister has since had Breast Cancer & has been treated for it with Chemo, surgery, etc.

Of the rest of my siblings, 2 sisters have a nodule smaller than .5 CM. One sister has a nodule of .8 CM and a brother has 3 nodules of .5 CM each. The two sisters that have the smaller nodules are not looking into further treatment at this time...they have decided to wait and see if they grow, etc. My sister with the .8CM has booked surgery, but still can change her mind and not do it. She also has to decide between taking 1/2 or all of the thyroid out if she does the surgery. My brother is waiting to see the surgeon to set up surgery or not...not sure what he is doing yet.

Cancer is really high in my family. One of the sisters with .5CM nodule has already had a bout of skin cancer & had it removed succesfully. The other has recently had a polup removed a few months ago.

So far, one brother is clear of any nodules & one brother has not been tested (he's an idiot/chicken.LOL) All of my siblings have been tested since mine was diagnosed, so this has all come about in the last 6-8 months.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else out there is part of a family that has a lot of thyroid cancer or any other type. I had to make the choice for surgery and I chose to do the TT prior to going in. My biopsy came back unknown, but my tumors were 2 CM & 1.7 CM so I didn't have the option of waiting. (as far as I was concerned).

I'd like to know if there are other families where thyroid nodules were common but where some of them weren't cancer and some were.

Also, if there are others dealing with many type of cancer scares...I keep wondering where I will find it next.

In the last 2 months, I've had a mamogram, colonoscopy, paps smear (which came back with abnormal cells so I have to get it done again in Jan).

Anyone else dealing with this kind of fear? I'm told by my Dr that I can't do much about getting cancer, I can only catch it early...I feel like I'm waiting for something aweful.

Any advise/words of wisdom?

Thanks,
LG.